WRITING LETTERS OR OP-EDS: Letters of up to 200 words may be submitted by filling out the form at static.cincinnati.com/letter/ or emailing letters@enquirer.com. Include name, address, community and daytime phone number. Op-eds are submitted the same way except they should be 500-600 words and also include a one-sentence bio and headshot.

This week the Westboro Baptists brought their signs of hatred, damnation, and violence to the campuses of a local high school and university. As I reflected on their messages intended for children and young adults to see, I thought about what an extremist group like them would teach children if they opened a K-12 school here. Under current school choice law, they would be entitled to use taxpayer dollars via school vouchers for students to attend.

Can you imagine public money going to a group like this to educate children and raise good citizens? Would you want your dollars to go toward the teaching of their messages? While I am not naive enough to believe that we have or will have clear separation of church and state, I do believe the boundaries should be clearer when it comes to the use of public money for private religious education. There are many good religious schools in our country, but they should not be receiving public funds or perks in the way that they currently do. Nor should it be the business of the state to sort through which religious schools are good and which are bad.

When we give public money to religious organizations we open ourselves up to a host of problems. In the rush to expand school choice (including SB 85 and HB 200 here in Ohio), we should stop to remember that publicly funded vouchers can also go to extremist groups and those whose ideologies run counter to democratic American beliefs in many regards.

Sarah Stitzlein, Mt. Washington

Monzel should not punish seniors over 90 cents

Commissioner Chris Monzel is playing politics with our seniors. Though it may serve his political interests to argue against a 37 percent levy increase, it does not serve seniors when he grossly dramatizes a minuscule $10.85 per year raise per $100,000 of property value.

As Mayor of Mount Healthy, a city ranked fifth in communities outside of Cincinnati in terms of seniors served by the Elderly Services Program, I have seen firsthand the importance of having enough resources to serve our elderly. Without these services, my most vulnerable neighbors will lose out on the opportunity to benefit from home-delivered meals, help with bathing, housekeeping and transportation to the doctor. These are not luxuries or wants; these are basic needs for survival.

If it weren’t for our seniors, we wouldn’t be here today. Commissioner Monzel shouldn’t play politics with their lives over an additional 90¢ per month, it’s just wrong.

Mayor James Wolf, Mount Healthy

Library stewards are giving away their power

Cameron Knight’s “Who will decide the fate of the Main Library’s north building?” (September 6) provides alarming detail concerning our Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County and disposal of our public assets. Our library staff and leadership provide outstanding stewardship of our library's assuring open access to books, periodicals, legacy collections, multimedia materials, services and more for the entire community making the public library the most democratizing institution in the area.

It is alarming that our Public Library Board of Trustees is handing off decision-making and public assets of our North Building to the exclusive private entity 3CDC, the least democratizing institution in the area (think privatization of Fountain Square, Washington Park, and now Ziegler Park). By surrendering the planning, decision-making, and asset development of the North Building to 3CDC, whose board of more than 20 corporate CEO’s have no statutory obligation to openness and no “Sunshine Law” accountability, we can only assume that the Library Board of Trustees has forgotten the public part of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County and is poised to renounce open decision-making and stewardship of assets that belong to all of us.
Alice Skirtz, Clifton Heights

The Church today is negating word of God

The Weidinger's opinion piece ("Pastors to Oak Hills Gay-Straight Alliance: 'We stand beside you'" Sept. 8) was stirring. While I agree with much of what he wrote, his article also shows a growing trend within the church today. That is a "glossing" over of what the Holy Scriptures truly say.

We are all beings created in God's image and he sees us as very good (Genesis 1:27-31). But sin entered the world and we are NOT all God's children. Only those who are led by the Spirit of God can be called God's children (Romans 8:13-14). Lastly, it may fill churches, and make people feel better about themselves and their choices, but it is not loving to exchange the truth about God for a lie. For the truth is those that practice the homosexual lifestyle cannot enter the kingdom of God (Romans 1:25-32, and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10). The role of the church is to minister to the lost and hurting people of the world without judgment. But that does not mean ignoring or worse -- negating God's Word.

Mark Mayersky, Maineville

Schumer's comments parrot McConnell's from 2010

I just read Ted Smith’s letter ("Does Schumer's obstinance amount to treason?" Sept. 8) suggestion that Sen. Charles Schumer’s stating his intent to “do everything he can to obstruct the Trump agenda” approaches the level of treason. I thought this sounded familiar so I did some research and, sure enough, here’s what I found.

Senate Minority (at the time) Leader Mitch McConnell said in an interview that appeared in the National Journal on Oct. 23, 2010: “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”